Doing no harm, Feeling no pain
by Writing Impasse
Summary: When Shikamaru gets a two year mission to Kirigakure, he reluctantly accepts. But strange dreams haunt him, creating a paranoia he just can't shake. Post Team Asuma vs Zombie combo
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one

It was foggy out; Shikamaru always noted the fog, because it made everything more of a drag. Two months ago Asuma-sensei died fighting Akatsuki members, he remained strong in front of Ino and Choji for their sakes, but no one, not even his mother, who was by far the most troublesome woman he would probably ever meet, knew how much he had been struggling since then. He strolled down the road towards Hokage tower, Lady Tsunade had summoned him. It started raining as he made his way up the tower steps, as much as he disliked fog, rain was worse, it just served to remind him of how helpless he'd been when his Sensei had died.

When he stepped into Tsunade's office, there was another man standing there, he was middle-aged, shorter than average, with scruffy brown hair that was balding in places, and thick glasses.

"You summoned me, Lady Tsunade?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yes, this is Ken'ichi Stodataaka; you are going to be his bodyguard." She stated.

"Where will we be going?" he asked.

"Our relations with Kirigakure are very good at the moment, and we are trying to form an alliance, so Ken'ichi is going to be an ambassador." She replied.

Shikamaru nodded at Ken'ichi, and then looked back at the Hokage.

"When do we leave?" he asked.

"At the end of the week." She answered.

Ken'ichi left and Shikamaru turned to face Tsunade.

"Not to question you Lady Tsunade; but why am I being sent on this mission, surely a Jonin would better qualified." He asked.

"Originally I was going to assign Genma, but Ken'ichi requested you, he watched your Chunin exams fight with the Kazekage's sister; Temari. He was quite impressed." She said.

"I forfeited that fight, Temari won." He said.

"Never the less, you are assigned and that is that." She said.

Shikamaru could tell by the tone in her voice that the conversation was over, and anything else he said might get him in trouble for insubordination, his mother would use the same tone, occasionally.

"Oh, and Shikamaru" Tsunade said as he turned to leave. "This mission could last for a minimum of two years." She sounded a lot gentler than she had moments ago.

He hesitated in reaching for the door knob. Two years? His mother wouldn't be pleased that he'd gone for so long, yet happy that he was getting such an important mission.

"Alright, I'll pack accordingly." He said.

"I'll be getting a message from the Mizukage soon about your living arrangements; I will let you know what you'll need to take." She said.

"Ok."

He left the Hokage's tower and headed for Yamanaka Flowers, Shikamaru knew he should tell his mother first, but if he went home, he wouldn't want to go back out. Stepping in he saw Sai at the counter talking with Ino.

"Um, black flowers aren't the best thing to give your girlfriend. Sakura's patient with you, but even she has her limits." Ino said.

"But I chose black, because it reminds me of the ink I use to make art, I thought it would be sentimental like she was as beautiful as art." Sai said.

"Well it reminds the rest of us of death. Red roses are best, roses are the flower of love, and red is Sakura's favorite color." She said.

Ino looked up and saw Shikamaru standing in the doorway.

"Oh, Shikamaru!" She said. "Are you here to get flowers for someone?"

_I probably should get some flowers for mom, to help break the news_

"Yeah, and I wanted to tell you something." He said.

Ino looked at him curiously.

"Well, tell me what you wanted to say and then I'll help you with the flowers." She said.

"I'm getting sent on a mission to Kirigakure. I'm going to be a bodyguard for an ambassador; I'll be gone for at least two years." He said. "The flowers are for breaking the news to my mother."

Ino's face fell slightly, but she put on a cheerful façade almost immediately. "Alright I would suggest one of the bouquets over there." She said pointing to a display.

Shikamaru turned to look at the flowers and saw Sai writing in his notebook.

"Um what are you doing?" Shikamaru asked.

Sai looked up.

"I was taking notes of how to give and receive hard news." He said.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. After deciding on a bouquet that had lot of his mother's favorite flowers, he said goodbye to Ino and made his way to the Akimichi's house. When he knocked, the door was answered by Choza.

"Ah, Shikamaru, how are you?" he asked.

"I'm fine, thank you. Is Choji home?" Shikamaru said.

"Yes, he's in the living room." Choza replied, letting Shikamaru in.

Choji was sitting on the couch reading, and snacking on his favorite flavor of chips. When Shikamaru entered the room, he looked up and smiled.

"Hey Shikamaru, what's up?" he asked.

Shikamaru decided to get straight to the point; it wouldn't change anything to beat around the bush.

"I have a mission; I'll be gone for a minimum of two years." Shikamaru stated.

Choji put his book down and placed his chip bag on a side table.

"Where are you going or can you not say?" Choji asked

"Kirigakure, I'm going to be a bodyguard." He answered.

"When do you leave?"

"At the end of the week, Lady Tsunade is sending me a scroll about living arrangements, today or tomorrow, as well as the travel papers." Shikamaru saw Choji's face fall, it was more noticeable than with Ino, but then again, Choji always tended to wear his emotions on his sleeve.

"I have to go home and tell my parents." He said.

Choji nodded and showed him out. Shikamaru decided to take his sweet time going home, so he could try to figure out how to tell his parents, namely his mother. She would be upset that he was leaving for so long, and would probably fuss over him until the end of the week. The rain had cleared up since he'd left Yamanaka flowers, and it was just damp out now. He wondered how much contact he'd be able to have with his family, probably just a 'how are you I'm fine' every couple of weeks whether he was or not, that was typically how these missions ran; fabric of a shinobi stitched together with S-class secrets. When his house came into view, he stopped and took a deep breath, then closed the distance.


	2. Chapter 2

After taking off his shoes, Shikamaru went into the kitchen and found his mother, back to him starting on dinner.

"Shikaku, is that you?" She asked.

"No it's me, mom." Shikamaru placed the bouquet on the table and started looking through cupboards for a vase.

"What have you been doing? You're typically home before lunch, did you eat with Choji?" she asked.

Shikamaru chuckled internally; his mother was like a coin that you flipped when you walked in the house, there was a fifty percent chance that she would be slightly manic, and a fifty percent chance that her interrogation skills would be level with Ibiki Morino. He found a suitable container for the flowers and started to put them in the jar when his mother turned around.

"What are those? Do you have a girl coming over? Is it Ino, or Sakura maybe? They're nice girls"

Yeah Ibiki mode was definitely on.

"They're flowers, and I don't have a girl coming over, Sakura is together with Sai, and Ino has a crush on someone else." He replied.

She took the flowers from him and started trimming the ends, because it was obvious that he had no idea what doing.

"Well then who are they for?" She inquired.

"I'll tell you and Dad over dinner."

She looked curious but said nothing. Shikamaru retreated to his room; he still wasn't sure how he was going to tell his parents. He opened the closet door a pulled out the bag he used for really long missions, and started going over a mental checklist of things he would need, having to compensate for the journey there as well as the time it would take to settle in to his living space. He was just about to start when there was a knock on his door; he opened it and saw his mother standing there.

"Dinner's ready, and your father's home." She said, looking over his shoulder to look at the bag and clothing sitting on his bed.

"Okay, I'll be down in a minute." Shikamaru added a few more things to the stacks on his bed, and then went downstairs for dinner.

He sat down at the table and took a deep breath.

"I have a body guarding mission to Kirigakure." He said.

"When do you have to leave?" His father asked, taking a bite of his meal.

"At the end of the week." Shikamaru said, preparing to break the news. "It's going to last for at least two years."

His mother took a deep breath and sighed.

"Lady Tsunade will be sending further instructions tomorrow." Shikamaru continued.

"So you have your first extended mission." His father said. "Were you promoted to Jonin for this?"

"No, the man I'm guarding requested me."

He wanted to add that the mission was going to be a drag, but the last time he had said that something was a drag in front of his mother, she had thrown a wooden spoon at his head, it was only ninja training and instinct that had saved him a trip to the hospital.

"Well, you're going to be busy this week." His mother said. "With packing and what not, do you have missions off this week?"

"Yes, I also have to speak with my client about the things we'll be bringing."

"What about the flowers?" His mother asked.

"They were for you to help break the news." He replied.

The rest of dinner was eaten in silence. Afterward Shikamaru offered to do the dishes, even though it was a lot more effort than what he typically did, he figured that it would be nice for his mom, considering he would be leaving in three days. She declined saying that he had packing to do, but when he got upstairs he didn't even look at his bag, not wanting to think about Kirigakure, missions, or being a ninja in general.

His father came up about an hour later with a shogi board.

"Hey Shikamaru, I thought you might want to play a game before you get too busy with getting ready." He said.

Shikamaru nodded, and started setting up the board with his father.

"You know this is the board that my uncle use to play me on." Shikaku commented as he played his opening move.

"How is mom doing?" Shikamaru asked.

Shikaku chuckled. "You've never been this worried about your mom before, usually while we play you talk about how troublesome she is, her and Ino."

"I'm just worried about them and Choji as well. It's only been two months since Asuma-sensei died and I don't know how well they'll do without me." Shikamaru said.

_I don't know how well _I'll _do without them_

As much of an anchor as Shikamaru was to Choji and Ino, they were an anchor to him even if they didn't realize it. If he didn't feel like he had to check up on them every day, he would probably only leave the house for missions.

"What about your mother?" Shikaku said, as he took one of Shikamaru's rooks slightly pleased that he had gained the upper hand, even he knew it would be short lived.

"I'm you're only child, mom's so troublesome because she worries so much about me." He replied, taking a knight in the process.

"Oh I think she'll be fine, she was a ninja's wife long before she was a ninja's mother."

Shikamaru knew his father was right; he was in denial about the fact that he was worried about himself, and was projecting it onto his mother, trying to make himself believe that he was fine and the anxiety he felt was from his mother. Deciding that he should go to bed, he wrapped up the shogi game in a couple of moves, and helped put it away.

"Shikamaru," his father began "I want you to have this shogi board; it's something that's been passed down through the family almost since our clan was founded, maybe you can find someone in Kiri that is actually a bit of a challenge for you to play."

He placed the board on the bed and left the room, Shikamaru ran his fingers across the smooth oak sides. It was the board he had played his father on since he started playing, but it was also the board he'd played Asuma on when he came over. His father said he was passing the board down, but Shikamaru knew he was giving the board to him because it was a memory of his sensei.

There were only four things he associated with his sensei; Asuma's lighter, the shogi board, his grave, and Kurenai of course, but bringing the grave with him would dishonor Asuma, and he couldn't exactly show up to Kirigakure with a pregnant woman just because she was carrying his sensei's child; especially when she was one of the Konoha's best genjutsu wielders. That left the lighter, which he always had with him in his weapons pouch and the shogi board, which his father had just given to him.

Shikamaru picked the empty bag up off his bed and placed it on his dresser, then carefully laid the board in it. He had officially started packing.

**Author's note:**

Hello all! I formally thank you for reading the first two chapters of Doing no harm, feeling no pain. I would have put this in the first chapter, but I was way too nervous about the response I would get to this story but after seeing how many views I got on the first chapter really encouraged me. Two hours after I posted chapter one I had views as far away as Italy and Germany (Hello!). I'm going to try to post chapters within a week of each other, but with school starting soon, I may not be able to keep that up so I'll have to see what my schedule looks like.

Ta Ta for now!

~Writing Impasse


	3. Chapter 3

After breakfast the next morning, Shikamaru walked up to Hokage tower to get the scroll about living arrangements, as well as their traveling papers

"You and Ken'ichi will be met on the Land of Fire's border by a team of Kiri-nin, just to avoid trouble getting into the village." Tsunade said, as she handed the scroll and papers to him.

After leaving the tower, he walked over to Kurenai's apartment. She invited him inside, they sat at the kitchen table while she boiled water for tea, and he started explaining the mission.

"So you'll be gone for a while then." She said.

"Yes, but I'll keep my promise, I'll be your child's sensei, and teach him how to use chakra blades." Shikamaru said.

The tea kettle started whistling and Kurenai got up to set up the pot steeping. Shikamaru noticed that she was starting to show her pregnancy a little.

"Asuma would be proud of you." She said. "Getting such a high-ranked mission at chunin level, your parents must be as well."

She placed two full teacups on the table and sat back down. After chatting for a bit longer, Shikamaru left to buy some things that he would need; unscented soap, hair ties, and unscented deodorant; typically he used the unscented kind, but the last time Ino had been at his house she'd snuck upstairs and replaced it with a stick of Old Spice; club scent, and it had been too troublesome to replace it. But on missions it was best to use things that would be as undetectable as possible. He picked up the things he needed and decided that he should talk with Ken'ichi. Lady Tsunade had given him a slip of paper that had his address on it, after deciphering Shizune's handwriting he started making his way towards it. Ken 'chi's apartment was just off of Tea Avenue and had a lovely view of the river where the cherry blossom trees bloomed in the spring. He knocked on the door and waited for five minutes before Ken'ichi answered.

"Hi, Shikamaru was it? What brings you here?" He asked.

"I thought we should go over the packing arrangements." Shikamaru said. "I'll have the food we will be eating until we reach the coast."

"That's fine; do I need to bring anything except my things?" Ken'ichi asked, as he adjusted his glasses

"No, just keep your luggage light; you need to be able to carry it yourself without trouble." Shikamaru stated, he was trying to be polite, but it was hard when he saw this man as the person who caused his entire world to fall apart.

"Of course, I've already finished, we're leaving on Saturday, what time?"

"It will take us about a two days to reach the coast. So I would like to leave around six in the morning." Shikamaru said.

"How long do you think the entire journey will last?" he asked.

"If it was just the two of us, and we were walking, about six days, but when we reach the coast we have to meet a team of Kiri ninja from there we'll be taking a boat. So it could end up be more like eight to ten days, accounting for when we join the team from Kiri and how clear the weather is while we're on the water." Shikamaru replied.

"Okay, thank you for speaking with me. I have things I need to take care of here." Ken'ichi said.

Shikamaru left and was on his way home, when he got ambushed by Ino.

"Hey Shikamaru!" Ino said cheerfully. "Are you busy?"

"Not really, why?" He asked.

"Good!" She said as she steered him back towards the downtown area.

She dragged him along until they came to the barbeque place that they usually ate at. When she walked in the hostess asked if they needed a table, and Ino said they were with the Yamanaka party, then brought him to the back of the restaurant where everyone from the Konoha eleven was waiting.

"We thought because you're leaving in two days that you might want to eat here one more time before you go." Ino said, sitting him down at the head of the table.

Shikamaru spent the rest of the afternoon at the restaurant chatting with his friends, Kurenai even made an appearance to say goodbye, because she would be busy with doctor's appointments and making room for the baby over the next few days. Many people said their goodbyes as well because they would be leaving for missions the next day and would not be in town Saturday morning, though Lady Tsunade had given Ino and Choji missions that started later in the day so they could see Shikamaru before he left.

When he finally made it home, both of his parents were out of the house, so he decided to take the time to pack while it was quiet, his mother had this habit of interrupting every fifteen minutes or so while he was getting ready for missions. It took him a lot longer than usual, partly because he didn't like packing and partly because he didn't want to go. It would be his first time living somewhere other than Konoha, the only three people he knew of that had actually live outside of the village other than on missions were; Naruto, his sensei Jiraiya, the toad Sage, and Sasuke Uchiha, though he didn't really count because he wasn't going to be coming back. When he finished packing and had sealed up the food they would need, he went out on the porch to watch the clouds.

Shikamaru closed his eyes and when he opened them again he was lying on a beach, he got up and looked around, and there were no familiar sights or land marks. Water washed over his feet when the waves came in, as he tried to find his bearings the water started rising higher and higher, soon it was up to his waist. Even though he was confused and worried he wasn't scared, he was pretty good swimmer, when the water reached his chest he started to tread water but soon found that his legs were unbearably heavy and he couldn't stay afloat. He went under and started running out of oxygen. Just when he thought he would drown he felt a splash from the surface of the water, looking up he saw a woman swimming towards him, her red hair floating gracefully under water. She pulled him up to the surface and onto the shore, after getting the water out of his lungs she hummed a lullaby that his mother sang when he was very young, and he drifted off to sleep.

Shikamaru woke with a start, gasping for breath, he sat up and looked around he was still on the porch, though some time had passed, the sun had started setting, he heard his mother in the kitchen. He made his way inside and saw his father sitting at the table drinking a cup of tea.

"Are you alright Shikamaru?" He asked. "You look a little pale."

"I'm fine, I just fell asleep on the porch, and I must be a little cold." Shikamaru said nonchalantly.

Dreams never really bothered him, but this one was too real, he woke up with the feeling that he had actually been drowning, and he didn't want to worry his parents, especially with him leaving so soon. The Nara family discussed their days over dinner, avoiding Shikamaru's mission on Saturday, things seemed almost normal in the house other than the stress Shikamaru felt from his mission, and his dream.

Hello again! I hope people are still reading this, maybe I'm fueling someones OTP, or maybe this is just floating around the internet. Maybe I'm in the Matrix, would I be Trinity or Oracle? I could be in a coma in the hospital and this is all a dream. Or Maybe I should just lay off caffeine for a while -.-  
Anywho, I hope you enjoyed the third installment of '_Doing no, harm feeling no pain_'  
Should I update my profile so it actually says stuff? what would guys (and girls) like to see? or maybe I should leave it blank and be a mystery. *Evil grin*  
TTFN  
Writing Impasse


	4. Chapter 4

Friday seemed to pass in the blink of an eye; Shikamaru spoke with Ken'ichi again, then he stopped by Choji's house and spent most of the afternoon talking with him. When he got home his father was waiting on the porch.

"Shikamaru, there are some things I want to speak with you about." He said.

They spent the next hour or so talking, Shikaku gave Shikamaru fatherly advice like 'Spend money in cash not credit' and 'Always stand behind what you say, your word is your honor'. Yoshino called them in for dinner and they ate in relative silence. At the end of the meal Shikamaru offered to do the dishes and was, yet again, turned down by his mother so he went upstairs and lay down on his bed. He thought about his life up until now, from the entrance ceremony at the academy, to receiving this damn mission.

He closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them his alarm was going off, a harsh reminder that it was Saturday. He readied himself for the day and grabbed his bag before heading downstairs. Neither of his parents could come to the gates with him because they had their own missions, so he said goodbye to them and made his way into town. When he got to the gates, Ken'ichi and Lady Tsunade were waiting there, as well as Choji.

"Could Ino not make it?" Shikamaru asked Choji.

"No she'll be here in a moment." He responded.

Sure enough Ino came dashing up to the gates.

"Good, you're still here, I thought I'd missed you." she said breathlessly.

She threw her arms around him and gave him a suffocating hug.

"Be safe Shikamaru." She whispered.

Ino stepped back and Choji said his goodbyes. Shikamaru turned to face Ken'ichi and the Hokage. Tsunade handed him a scroll that was closed with a complicated seal mark.

"This is for Lady Mizukage." She said.

Shikamaru nodded. "Alright" and he put it in one of the scroll pouches on his vest.

"Have a safe journey." She said.

Shikamaru looked at Ken'ichi. "Are you ready to go, sir?" He asked.

Ken'ichi nodded and they set off. After twenty minutes of awkward silence Ken'ichi finally questioned:

"The blonde girl who came running up right before we left, is she your girlfriend?"

"No, she's my team-mate." Shikamaru said, chuckling.

"Ah, so was the other boy your team-mate too?" Ken'ichi asked.

"Yeah, Choji and I have been friends for a long time, we met back before we started in the academy." Shikamaru replied. "What about you? I noticed that you didn't have anyone see you off."

Ken'ichi smiled. "That's because they're all dead."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Shikamaru said. This guy probably didn't want to think about his deceased comrades.

"It's all right," Ken'ichi said. "actually they aren't all dead, my best friend is still alive, but he was- well he's very sick at the moment so I said goodbye to him on friday."

Shikamaru glanced at him sideways, he seemed so calm talking about this, though he'd probably had a lot more time to come to terms with his comrades deaths.

The rest of the day was spent in relative silence, at sundown they stopped to set up camp.

"What techniques do you use? You use shadows if I remember correctly. During the chunin exams you had a paralytic jutsu, but I'm sure you've learned more since then." Ken'ichi said.

"Yeah," Shikamaru said swallowing the food in his mouth. "Shadows are my clans specialty, I've learned few more since then, hopefully you won't have to see them put to use though."

"I also remember sitting next to Asuma Sarutobi, he said that you were quite the strategist." The older man said.

"Asuma was my sensei, he used to play shogi with me so that's probably why." Shikamaru replied.

He really hoped this conversation wouldn't drag on too long, he didn't really feel like talking about Asuma-sensei. He decided to steer the conversation away from a sensitive topic, he asked: "Have you ever played Shogi before?"

"Once, but I was never gifted in strategy so I lost, horribly." Ken'ichi said with a chuckle.

"It's just one of those things you need to practice. Just how most artists aren't born knowing how to paint a masterpiece, though there are a few exceptions." Shikamaru said poking the fire with a stick.

Ken'ichi looked a little sad for a moment.

"There are exceptions to everything." he said.

Quickly composing himself he pulled out a small journal and began writing in it. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. He pulled out a map and started planning tomorrow's journey. He decided on a a route that would extend their journey by a couple hours but they would get to spend tomorrow evening in a village rather than out in the woods. After a bit he lay down resting his head on his pack and drifted to sleep.

* * *

Shikamaru was standing on a pond, Choji, Ino and Asuma-sensei were standing on the far side, so he started making his way towards them. His chakra suddenly vanished and he fell into the water. Shikamaru slowly sunk to the bottom of the pond, he tried as hard as he could to swim to the surface, but the darkness slowly closed in. He woke up in someones arms, he looked up and saw a woman, her red hair covering her face, she softly sang his mother's lullaby and slowly rocked him.

* * *

Shikamaru woke with a gasp and sat up, it was still very dark out, Ken'ichi was on the other side of the fire in a deep sleep. He lay back down and looked up at the sky, he traced out the constellations that he recognized. After what seemed like hours he finally drifted back to sleep.

Shikamaru and Ken'ichi woke up about the same time, they made quick work of packing up and set off.

"I planned a route that will take us through a village so we'll actually have real beds tonight." Shikamaru said.

Ken'ichi merely nodded and they set off, they walked for several hours making small talk about their favorite places in the village and mutual friends. As it turned out, Ken'ichi was very good friends with Jiraiya, though he had never met Naruto. The village came into view just as the sun started setting, they made their way inside and soon found a hotel. Shikamaru could tell that the town was not a tourist hotspot due to the small number of hotels. They settled in their room, it was very simple just two beds, a bathroom and a sitting area. Since they were in town Shikamaru decided to buy some real food, so on the way to the hotel they stopped at a store and bought some food that would be very easy to prepare and did not require the use of a stove. They conversed over dinner then settled in for the night.

* * *

Well that's the end of chapter four! Shikamaru and Ken'ichi have finally started on their journey! I had to use the first three chapters for set-up and it really killed me to do the pre-mission around town stuff, but I couldn't just jump straight into were I want this to go with out some back story. Anyways I'm going to stop this Author's note here before it becomes a one-shot

~Writing Impasse

Ps Kakashi, Sakura, or Deidara? **Evil Grin** XP


	5. Chapter 5

Shikamaru was woken up in the middle of night by a roll of thunder, he walked over to the window and pulled back the curtain slightly. A flash of lightning illuminated the storm outside, the branches folded against the wind. The next roll of thunder woke Ken'ichi, he looked over at the window and saw Shikamaru.

Ken'ichi sat up and turned on a light. "It's storming pretty badly out there."

Shikamaru looked over at him as he got up. "Yeah, but it should pass by morning."

The sound of splintering wood caught their attention, they looked out the window to see a tree branch fly by the window.

Ken'ichi, who had left his glasses on the side table, squinted. "Was that a branch?"

"We might be in town until the storm clears up." Shikamaru said.

While it was troublesome to have to spend two nights in this town, he was also glad that they were indoors during a storm like this. They both went back to sleep, when they woke up it was still dark and storming.

"Well I suppose we'll just have to wait out the storm." Ken'ichi said.

"It'll be a drag, but there's nothing we can do about it." Shikamaru sighed.

Both Ken'ichi and Shikamaru tried to busy themselves, Shikamaru with travel plans and Ken'ichi with his journal but after less than a hour they were both tapped out.

_Of course we had to get caught in this troublesome storm. Well at least we're indoors, it could be worse. _

Shikamaru started digging through his bag. "Ken'ichi would you like to learn how to play shogi?" He asked, pulling out the board.

Ken'ichi chuckled. "Well there isn't much else to do so why not."

Ten minutes later despite Shikamaru assistance, Ken'ichi was down six pieces.

"Are you sure you're not just using me for an easy game?" Ken'ichi said jokingly.

Shikamaru let the game drag on for a little while before wrapping it up. They ate lunch in relative silence until Ken'ichi asked:

"Do you have any interest in riddles?"

This caught Shikamaru off guard. "I've never really heard any but I'll give it a try."

"With your brain you should be able to figure them out." Ken'ichi said. "Ok, When my first is a task to a young girl of spirit, and my second confines her to finish the piece. How hard is her fate, but great is her merit. By taking my whole, she effects her release."

Shikamaru thought about it for a few moments. "Hem-lock?"

"Yes, you're just as good as I thought you'd be." Ken'ichi said with a distant look in his eyes.

"It was interesting, it challenged me in a different way than what I'm used to." Shikamaru said. "Typically I just play shogi with my dad."

"Are you close to your parents?" Ken'ichi asked.

"Mostly, my mom is a little troublesome at times, she's always on me about missions and such." he said. "What about you?"

"Both of my parents were ninja, my mother was a medical-nin and my father was a sensor-nin. They're both dead now but they were very nice people when they were alive." Ken'ichi replied.

Shikamaru knew how difficult it could be to talk about deceased comrades and loved ones and was going to drop the subject but Ken'ichi spoke up first.

"It's alright, I'm very proud of my parents, they were good ninja." Ken'ichi said with a smile. "However my mother was not someone to make angry."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. _Sounds like my mom _

"I'm sure you know of the Toad sage, Jiraiya?" Ken'ichi asked.

"Yeah, he trained my friend Naruto." Shikamaru said

"Well," Ken'ichi began. "he is also the author of some very R rated books, he gets his material through 'research'. One time he convinced me to help him in his research, I won't go into the details but it involved us spying at the hot-spring. We got caught by my mother, she was not happy and very disappointed in me. I don't think I've ever seen anyone so angry in my life, it was quite possibly the most terrifying thing I'll ever experience. I didn't go to the hot-spring for years after that." He finished with a chuckle.

Shikamaru tried to imagine Ken'ichi peeping with Jiraiya but just could picture it, however he could imagine how angry _his _mom would be if she caught him doing something like that. He shuddered at the thought of his mother chasing him with a wooden spoon.

"Sounds like my mom, she can be really scary sometimes. I remember commenting that early morning training was a drag. She threw a wooden spoon at my head, that woke me up really quickly." Shikamaru chuckled, remembering the incident.

"Sounds like we both know some very temperamental women." Ken'ichi said with a laugh. "My wife was not as quick to anger but was still hell in a bottle if you did."

"I didn't know you were married." Shikamaru said.

Ken'ichi got a distant look in his eyes, like he had old memories resurfacing. "Yes, well that was a long time ago."

Dropping the subject, Shikamaru got up and looked out the window, the storm had died down to a steady rain, he was glad that there wasn't a tropical storm outside anymore and that it seemed they would be able to leave by tomorrow morning. The rest of the day passed at a excruciatingly slow pace, Ken'ichi once again was writing in his journal while Shikamaru played shogi against himself.

The next morning the sky was a cheery blue, the only sign that there had been a storm were the trees, half of them were laying in pieces on the ground. They bought some supplies in town and set off for the coast again. They made fairly good time to make up for spending an extra night in town.

"I've changed our travel plans slightly," Shikamaru said as he put together a fire. "Instead of traveling to the rendezvous completely by land, we're going to head to the coast from here and see what the weather is like. If it's going to be clear for a few days then we'll travel by sea from the land of waves to the meeting spot, if not then we'll travel along the coast until we either can take a boat or make it to our destination."

"Alright, that sounds fine to me." Ken'ichi said. "How about another riddle?"

Shikamaru got the fire going and started pulling out food for dinner. "Sure."

Ken'ichi sat down "Two men find an old gold coin and want to have a coin toss with it to decide who gets it. The only problem is the coin is heavier on one side so it comes up heads more than tails. What is a fair way for the men to toss the coin and decide who gets the coin?"

Shikamaru served their dinner and sat down as well. "They'd have to flip it twice, if one man called out 'heads' on one toss then he'd get 'tails' next time, if they both won one toss each then they'd both have to repeat until one of them won."

"Very good, how about this; Only one color but not one size, stuck at the bottom, yet easily flies, present in sun but not in rain, doing no harm and feeling no pain." Ken'ichi said, as he began eating.

This one actually made Shikamaru stop and think. _One color, one size, pinned down but can still move without trouble, it's there in the sun but not when it rains, it can't hurt and cannot be hurt._

"Is it a shadow?" He asked

"Yes," Ken'ichi said. "I didn't think that riddle would be the one to trip you up considering your ninjutsu. But I suppose it looking at all facets of a situation is one of your strength, according to your file you're a very good strategist."

They both settled in for the night

* * *

Shikamaru was on the roof of the transfer station, he recognized it as the day and place that Asuma-sensei died. Ino and Choji were on either side of him.

"Shikamaru, why? Why did you fail us?" Ino asked

"All we wanted was for you and Asuma-sensei to come back alive," Said Choji. "But you couldn't protect him. You're supposed to be the strategist."

Shikamaru looked at his two teammates and then down at his sensei, who was still barely conscious.

"Shikamaru, if you couldn't save sensei then what makes you think protect the king?" Asuma asked, coughing.

* * *

Riddle credits:

Hem-lock~ Jane Austin

Gold Coin~ Gandalf (Lord of the rings by J.R.R Tolkien

Shadow~ Unknown

* * *

Hello all!

Finally we're getting to the main plot line! I might actually get my writing done now...

I meant to have this chapter up around noon but when I write it's 75% procrastination and 25% writing heh heh *cough*

This is how my sister described it last night at 11 pm when I only had 500 words written

"You know I found a great fanfiction called 'doing no harm, feeling no pain' but the authoress discontinued it because she was too busy looking up pictures of Toshiro Hitsugaya"


	6. Chapter 6

After several days of travel Shikamaru and Ken'ichi made it to the land of waves. Shikamaru was still shaken up by his dream, he had woken up in a cold sweat and had almost hyperventilated, since then every time he closed his eyes all he could see was his sensei's burned face. His previous dreams had been distressing but this one had lingered on. Shikamaru shook his head in an attempt to clear it, he had other things to worry about he couldn't worry about his emotions, they weren't important anyways.

Shikamaru and Ken'ichi stopped in front of the bridge that connected the land of waves to mainland.

"The great Naruto bridge," Shikamaru chuckled. "you sure do get around Naruto."

Ken'ichi looked up at the sign. "If I remember correctly you said that Naruto was Jiraiya's student."

"Yeah he was away for two years training but they came back a couple of months ago." Shikamaru said.

They made their way across and into the town, they were making their way towards the docks when they were stopped by a boy with spiky brown hair.

"You're from the hidden leaf village, right?" He said.

Shikamaru looked at him. "Why?"

"Do you know Naruto Uzumaki?" He asked. "I'm Inari by the way."

"Yeah, he's one of my friends." Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, this kid, Inari, stared at him in awe, like he was the coolest person ever. "Could you tell us where the docks are?"

"I can do one better, I'll bring you there."

Inari led them through the winding streets of the little fishing village, when they arrived at the docks, Inari made small talk with Ken'ichi while Shikamaru spoke with the boat captains. He went through five captains before he found one that was headed south-east, the boat was a mid-sized cargo vessel, it took him twenty minutes to negotiate a fair price, 8,000 Ryo each.

The captain was a experienced sea veteran with a scarred face. "We're leaving at six thirty tomorrow morning and I won't wait for you if you're not on time."

"Of course, I wouldn't expect you to." Shikamaru said.

He made his way back to Ken'ichi and Inari. "Alright I've gotten us a boat, but it's not leaving until tomorrow morning, so we'll have to find a place to stay." Looking at Inari he asked. "Can you help us find an Inn?"

"You don't need an Inn, I'm sure my mom will let you stay at our house." He replied.

He brought them around the outer edge of the island to a little house, when they entered they were standing in a kitchen/dining room. There was a old man sitting at the table and a woman with long blue hair standing a the sink washing dishes, she turned around when she heard the door.

"Inari, who are these people?" she asked.

"This is Shikamaru and Ken'ichi, they're form the hidden leaf village and Shikamaru is friends with Naruto. They need a place to stay tonight." he replied.

The old man looked up. "Friends of Naruto, eh? Well we'll be happy to have you for the night. I'm Tazuna and this is my daughter Tsunami."

"Here have a seat, I was just getting started with dinner." Tsunami said. "Inari show them the guest room."

Inari took them upstairs and they deposited their things and went back downstairs and sat down at the table.

"So what's Naruto up to these days?" Tazuna asked. "He must be fifteen or sixteen by now, I remember when he was younger always going on about being Hokage, has he gotten any closer to that dream?"

"Some what, he spent two years away from the village training but he's back now." Shikamaru replied.

"What are you doing here?" Tsunami asked from the kitchen area.

"I'm escorting Ken'ichi to the hidden mist village." Shikamaru said. "How do you know Naruto?" he knew Naruto had traveled a great deal with Jiraiya so he had thought that they had met him if he and Jiraiya had passed through here, but they seemed to have met him before then.

"Naruto and the rest of his team, Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi, were assigned to guard me two- almost three years ago. I was building the bridge that connects this island to the main land, but Gato the business tycoon didn't like that so I hired some ninja to protect me from his men." Tazuna said, taking a sip of Sake.

"So what is the reason behind the bridge's name?" Ken'ichi asked.

"Shortly after I returned to the island with Naruto and his group, we were confronted by a two ninja that Gato had hired, there was a intense battle on the bridge. The four of them had almost defeated the ninjas when Gato and the rest of goons showed up." Tazuna said.

"But I rallied the people of the island, well it was Naruto who inspired me to do it, he showed me that you don't have to stand by and let things happen, that you can do anything as long as you have the will to do it and friends to help you." Inari finished.

Shikamaru chuckled. "That sounds like Naruto and he hasn't changed much."

Tsunami set food down on the table and they began eating. The dinner conversation was a little awkward because Shikamaru and Ken'ichi didn't know Tsunami, Tazuna and Inari but they were friendly and Shikamaru found it nice to be eating in a family atmosphere again. He offered help with the dishes as it seem the polite thing to do but Tsunami laughed and said that he could just go relax in the living room. "You're probably tired from all the traveling and you have more to do, how about you just go sit down."

In the living room Tazuna and Ken'ichi were talking, well Shikamaru considered it subject hopping, because they kept moving from one topic to the next. He sat down and started taking a mental inventory of the supplies they had left. The evening passed very quickly, which disheartened Shikamaru, he hadn't slept well since his nightmare, mostly because he didn't want to risk a nervous break down but also because the nightmares had been getting worse since the one he'd had before the start of the mission and he didn't want to see how bad they could get.

He spent most of the night laying in his bed staring at the ceiling, he finally dozed off for an hour or two before waking up again. He checked the time and saw that it was five in the morning getting up he began to get his things in order. Ken'ichi woke shortly afterward they gathered their things and headed downstairs. Tsunami had packed up some food for them the previous night and set it on the table. They ate in silence and set off for the docks.

They arrived with plenty of time to spare, the captain showed them the room where they would be staying and they set down their things. Shikamaru offer to help put things on the ship but the captain said he would only be in the way, so he and Ken'ichi just waited for the ship to be loaded up with cargo. Once everything was in place and tied down, they set off.

* * *

Hello! Sorry this chapter is so late. I could say that I had a crazy labor day weekend (I only had a day trip on sunday) Or that I've been busy getting ready for school (I have nothing left to do but wait) I could say that the ferrets I'm pet-sitting are driving me up the wall and I can't think (They're pretty well behaved...mostly) Or that I've contracted an illness that prevents me from writing more than one sentence a day. (Sounds worse than dysentery) but in the end it all comes down to the fact that I procrastinate, for me writing is 73% Procrastination and 25% Writing. The last 2% disperses like smoke.

As an apology for being so late with this chapter I will do fan-service one-shots for the collection on my profile, it doesn't have to be Naruto PM if you want to know what I can write (It's probably better to ask about the specific fandom you have in mind) I hold the right to refuse requests.

To everyone who celebrated Labor day this monday I hope you had a good weekend. To everyone who didn't, I still hope you had a good weekend.

~Writing Impasse


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